Return of A Golden Hero
by ForeverWontDo
Summary: AU: On the night of their battle with the massive Destroy Gundam, Cagalli Yula Athha, in her Strike Rouge is killed in action. She later wakes up, all alone with no memory of who she is or was, whatsoever. 2 years later, now a ZAFT soldier under a new identity, Cagalli's past comes back to her along with the people in it amid a new bloody war. Asucaga-centric
1. 1: A Message from a Familiar Face

_**Preface**_

_On the night of their battle with the massive and deathly Destroy Gundam, Cagalli Yula Athha, in her Strike Rouge is killed in action while protecting the civilians behind her._

_She later wakes up, all alone with no memory of who she is or was, whatsoever._

_2 years later, Cagalli is with a new identity, a new name, a scar, and a new set of impressive military skills, but has still not quite lost her lion hearted personality despite having no memories at all._

_It is now C.E. 75 and a new war has once again erupted between the Coordinators and the Naturals._

_Leading the Earth Alliance into battle, the narcissistic, clever, and ambitious, Valentine Redfield will stop at nothing to achieve his goal: to wipe out the entire Coordinator race._

_**Chapter 1  
**__A Message from a Familiar Face_

Three consecutive shots rang from inside the shooting range as two red clad ZAFT soldiers entered the closed vicinity. The gunshots came from a certain ill-tempered girl standing in front of the smoking target; the bullets had gone straight through its chest.

She stood there, gun still raised, wearing the same red uniform they had on. Her golden locks were tied up into a particularly messy bun. The scar that raced down from the side of her left eye to her cheek bone was visible this time and not hidden behind the mask she usually wore.

"Woah. What'd the target ever do to you, Camila?" the handsome, emerald green haired lad asked teasingly. He had a smirk painted all over his pale face.

Camila laid down her gun and scowled at him disapprovingly. "What do you want, Julian?"

"Nothing really. Adele and I wanted to practice our shooting but it looks like you beat us to it." Julian replied with total nonchalance.

Camila huffed. It was clear she wasn't getting a proper answer from him so she set her amber eyes instead on the long haired brunette beside him, keeping her award winning scowl intact.

"Don't mind Julian. He's just being his annoying little self again" Adele said. Out of the three of them she was probably the calmest and most logical one, always keeping her and Julian on track if they ever got out of line or their temper flared which, for Camila, was a natural occurrence.

Camila's face softened a bit, stretching out her fingers.

"But seriously though, what's up? The whole ship knows Adele's not really fond of guns" she asked once more out of pure curiosity. The brunette rarely stepped into the shooting range. Camila found her comrade's dislike for guns strange since she was one of the ace mobile suit pilots of the PLANTS issued _Rhea ship_.

"Commander Moore wants us in the Briefing Room immediately. She says it's extremely important that the three of us are there" Adele explained.

Camila perked up at the mention of their Commander, the woman who saved her life almost two years ago.

Commander Alana Moore found her washed up on an island, drowning in her own blood. Her pink suit dowsed in crimson and remnants of some rouge colored mobile suit scattered around her.

Camila, in those moments of confusion and terror, knew full well she was going to die and she couldn't do anything about it. She couldn't watch her life flash before her eyes because when she woke up from her bloody unconsciousness, _**she couldn't remember anything from her past. **__Not even her name_.

But now she was alive and well.

Commander Moore was her miracle so she promised herself that she'd do anything to make the young Commander proud of her every chance she got, even if that meant agreeing to train as a soldier for ZAFT and a country she felt no connection with at all.

As she trained with the best of the best, none of her memories came back. Her name, her family, her past, her friends, it seemed they were all washed away in that island where she crashed.

The moment she met Julian and Adele in her training, they promised her that they'd help her make new memories together, and the two, along with Commander Moore, certainly haven't disappointed with their promise ever since.

Camila picked up the black mask from beside her **{1} **and put it back on, hiding the hideous scar she had, though Julian and Adele did have different opinions on the mark on her face.

"Why do you keep on hiding behind that stupid mask?" Julian asked aggressively. They'd had this conversation before and it never ended well.

"You know why" Camila simply retorted and moved past the two and out of the shooting range, wanting to avoid the topic again.

Adele and Julian followed her into the ship's main hallway. A few green uniformed crew members stopped to salute before them. Camila honestly found this unnecessary since she wasn't really one for superiority. She believed that everyone in the ship had an important task to execute therefore making them all equals. But she gave them the curtsy back, nonetheless. She didn't really have a choice. The last thing she wanted was for the crew members to think she was some kind of haughty snob just because she was wearing red and had a gold badge **{2}** pinned on her uniform.

"What if someone from your past saw you but they wouldn't know who you are because you have that mask on?" Julian continued. He really couldn't take a hint.

"Just drop it, Julian" she said through gritted teeth.

"Leave her alone, Jules. Now's not the time for that" Adele helped. Camila could hear the green haired boy groan from behind her.

As much as she liked Julian, he had the knack of getting on her nerves even if he didn't try to.

The briefing room door opened for them.

Inside the crystal white room were rows of empty chairs, an open projector, and Commander Moore wearing her white uniform.

Her platinum blonde hair was tied into a pony tail as she stood, going over her report in her head.

Moore was only 25 years old, only five years younger than the three of them and the second youngest ZAFT Commander, behind the legendary Kira Yamato, who they have yet to meet.

In fact, Camila and the others haven't actually met any other ZAFT members yet aside from the crew of Rhea. They were told that this was because the Rhea was PLANTS' new secret weapon. Maybe today was finally the day when they'd get the chance to actually enter the battlefield.

Commander Moore looked up at the three of them as they saluted their commanding officer. She did the same and nodded for them to sit down.

"Glad the three of you could make it" the higher officer said lightly. She had the same golden badge pinned over her black collar.

"As you may all know, the Earth Alliance has recently attacked several of our fleets and, in most battles, won, due to their new mobile suit technology. Something they call the VOLKONLOV, integrated in their suits." Commander Moore began. "But before I explain everything, we have a special message coming from a very famous, elite, ZAFT commander who will more or less, give you the gist of this briefing"

Julian, Adele, and Camila glanced at each other. Their whereabouts were kept clandestine and interactions with anyone else from outside Rhea were a rarity.

The commander stepped away from the screen and pressed a button from her laptop.

The white screen flashed for a second and a familiar brunette showed up on it. His warm purple eyes gazed at them from the screen. Commander Kira Yamato smiled before them, the recorded feed as clear as his face.

Camila took in a sharp breath. She knew him, somehow. And something at the back of her head told her that he knew her as well, though the unsettling feeling dissolved as fast as it came.

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_**1. **Her mask is the same as Le Creuset's only black_

**_2. _**_The golden badge will be explained further in other chapters_

A/N: Thank you so much for reading and I hope you continue to read and review in the next chapters.

If it wasn't obvious yet, _Camila is Cagalli._

Don't worry, she'll meet Athrun, Kira, Lacus, and the others again, very, very soon. So keep on reading :))

Reviews are highly appreciated.


	2. 2: Where it All Begins

_**a/n:**I realize that this is another short one but keep in mind that I posted this on the same day that I posted the first chapter because I just love writing and the first chapter was short so technically this is just the continuation of the first chapter. And besides, the next chapter will have a different P.O.V. can you guess who's it is? ;))_

* * *

_**Chapter 2  
**__Where it All Begins_

Up until now, Camila had only seen his face on the t.v. or pictures of him in the newspaper but she always got this weird feeling circling inside her stomach every time she saw him. It was as if her brain somersaulted to the back of her head, trying in vain to search for a memory of Kira Yamato in her veins but it always came back with nothing.

"A pleasant day to the three of you. My name is Commander Kira Yamato of the ZAFT special forces." the message began, "As you may already know, our world has once again been waged into pointless war and we here at ZAFT, along with Chairwoman Lacus Clyne, want nothing but these battles to end. It has therefore been decided by the PLANT Supreme Council that we finally introduce to our enemies, one of our new and great weapons. The Rhea and its specially chosen crew members which of course includes the three _Kronos Class_ pilots that we have so often heard about. In lieu of this, we would like to finally meet the members of the Rhea personally in order to formally forge a strong bond of loyalty and trust. Commander Moore will tell you more of this after this message. We sincerely hope for your safe arrival here in Aprilius One."

The message ended with a _beep_ and the screen receded back to black.

A moment of shocked silence passed amid the three soldiers but excitement quickly overtook them within the blink of an eye.

"Yes! Finally they're making us fight. All those hours of training and stupid injections won't go to waste after all!" Julian exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air.

"Settle down, Jules. The meeting's not over yet" Adele said, though the bright smile on her face sold her equal pleasure for the news out.

Camila, on the other hand, leaned back on her chair. She was excited as well of course but she couldn't shake off the awful feeling of anxiety causing a wave within her system. They were going into war for goodness sake, why would anyone be happy about that? Not unless you were Julian Crestings of course.

Commander Moore stepped in front of the blank screen and turned the projector off; it's blue flash flickering dead.

"I'm glad the three of you received the news with open arms but as Ms. Shea said, the meeting isn't over yet so Mr. Crestings, please do save your celebration for later" Moore said.

Julian settled in his seat. If anything, the only ones who could truly pacify his ecstatic behavior were Adele and Commander Moore.

"Along with formally joining our fellow ZAFT members in this war, we have also been issued to protect the nation of Orb, when necessary"

"WHAT!?" Julian abruptly stood in outrage, his feeling of elation quickly shifting to indignation. "You're kidding? Why do we need to give our services to that nation?"

"Julian!" Adele grabbed hold of the boy's sleeves and pulled him back to his seat. "Manners!" she reminded him.

He turned to his pacifier with a look of annoyance etched all over his physiognomy.

"But Adele…" he continued to whine.

Adele drew her face closer to him and whispered lowly over his ear "Listen, Julian. We are soldiers. We follow our orders because that's what's expected of us. Now calm down and listen if you don't want to go back to the Academy again" as she muttered these words calmly to him, Camila observed that Julian's cheeks were burning red. He probably was not used to Adele filling the space between them before.

Camila on the other hand, had her palm clutching her temple. She was having a terrible headache. For some reason, the mention of Orb triggered the same dizziness she was having every time she saw Kira.

"Are you all right, Camila?" Moore asked, genuinely worried.

She returned her hand to her side and nodded.

Adele pulled away from Julian and touched Camila's arm, a sign of sisterhood between them. "You sure you're okay?" She echoed with the same concerned tone as Moore.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry" Camila reassured them.

Julian, though still visibly red, apologized to their commanding officer and zipped his mouth.

"I think what Julian meant to say, Ma'am, though poorly worded, is that it's fully known that Orb is a neutral nation of its own ideals and principles. The idea of their nation having to be defended, let alone them participating in the war again, considering their past, came as a shock to all of us" Adele clarified.

She really was the best talker. Camila admired her for this.

"I understand, but you have to remember that Orb signed a peace treaty with PLANTs after the Second Bloody Valentine War. More so over, the Earth Alliance has sent multiple threats to their nation's government about an impending attack. Though it is still unknown why the Alliance would want to attack them" Commander Moore explained with pure conviction "It is because of this peace treaty that ZAFT will be aiding them if they ever are attacked by the Earth Alliance and Valentine's army. Do you understand?" she concluded.

The three of them nodded, though Camila was still trying to bring down her headache.

"We will be taking off to Aprilius One immediately in 5 hours and we'll be meeting with Commander Yamato, his team, Chairwoman Clyne, and an Orb military representative, shortly after we land. The other crew members have already been informed of this." Commander Moore gave her team a warm smile "I'm sure the time allotted is enough for our three best soldiers to get ready?"

"Yes ma'am!" the three of them sounded in unison.

"Good, then you may go" Moore dismissed.

Julian and Adele promptly left the briefing room though Camila stayed and approached Commander Moore.

Realizing she was still there, Moore stared at the faceless blonde.

"Yes, Camila?"

"Well you see, commander," The younger girl hesitated "Since we are meeting with some high ranking officials, I can only imagine they'd want me to take my mask off as a sign of respect, and I'm not really comfortable with that" Camila failed to hide the embarrassment she was feeling.

She'd always hated the scar on her face, although it wasn't entirely disturbing to the few people who've seen it, it was disturbing for her.

For her, the scar was an ugly mark that will never disappear or fade away. Whenever she sees her reflection on the mirror, her scar reminded her of the past she would most likely never get back. 18 years of her life she'd never ever remember and the thought was too much for her to bear.

Moore settled her hand over Camila's head and gently said "No one is going to force you to remove your mask, Camila. I will personally make sure of that"

Satisfied with her promise, Camila thanked the commander, flashed a grateful smile, saluted, and left the Briefing Room; anticipating the journey ahead.

* * *

_**a/n:** __Again, thank you for reading and please do leave a review. I love those things and they keep me going._

_So do you think it's about time for Cagalli to see Athrun and the others again after two long years? Cause I do._


	3. 3: Introductions

_**A/N: Sorry this was a bit rushed especially at the end but I hope you like it either way though not much will happen**_

* * *

_**Chapter 3  
**Introductions_

Kira paced back and forth inside the lobby of the Supreme Council Office. He'd been restless since the attack on Gibraltar. A lot of innocent workers and soldiers had died that day.

_Cursed that Valentine and his campaign for a purely Natural world! _

All he did was revive the long time conflict that he, Lacus, Athrun, Cagalli, and the others had spent so long to conclude.

_Cagalli._ The thought of his twin stung his eyes. _His dead sister. _

Kira shook his head. He couldn't afford to cry at a time like this. They were meeting with other soldiers for crying out loud! The last thing he needed was for the elite class of the Rhea ship to see a commanding officer in tears because of someone who died two years ago.

"Kira?" he heard a familiar voice call him. Kira wiped the single tear away from his eye and turned to face his fiancé, Lacus Clyne. He'd proposed to her 4 months ago and to his relief she'd said yes, though the start of another war had taken its toll on their wedding plans, which, they'd both agreed to set aside for the greater good of everyone.

Beside her was his best friend, Athrun Zala. He was wearing the Orb uniform.

After the war Athrun had decided to stay in Orb, much to their surprise, and become their Special Defence Force's Admiral. He said he was doing it for Cagalli.

It seemed that when she died, everything Athrun did after was for her. He even promised by her memorial that he'd take care of Orb for her. That he'd keep the Seirans in check no matter what happens.

Kira could still remember the day when the two of them had first cried over her death together.

It was when Athrun woke up after he nearly escaped from ZAFT _and_ death with Meyrin Hawke. He and Athrun cried an ocean that day, leaning onto each other for strength and comfort, much to the discomfort of a then clueless Mwu or, at that time, _Captain _Neo.

Athrun apologized relentlessly and Kira did the same. The amount of 'sorrys' they'd said to each other was enough for a whole country of remorse.

Kira had lost his sister, Lacus had lost her friend, someone who fully understood her position, and Athrun had lost the one person he'd truly and irrevocably loved.

It all felt like a nightmare, but then again, it wasn't. And they were never getting to see those pair of fierce amber eyes glare at them again.

"Lacus, Athrun," Kira walked over to the two of them, pushing his unfortunate reverie at the back of his mind. He pecked Lacus on the cheek and hugged the blue haired boy. "You're finally here"

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else" Athrun replied when they broke their hug.

"How are you holding up?" Kira asked.

Athrun gave him a half smile and replied "All right, I guess"

"I didn't mean physically, Athrun"

Surprised, his pair of emerald eyes looked down at the uninteresting ground as if they held the answer to his best friend's question.

"It's been two years" Athrun finally began "and not a day goes by that I don't think about her"

Oddly enough, Kira was glad to hear he wasn't the only one. Even Lacus nodded in agreement.

Lacus who, at that time was in space, refused to eat or talk to anyone unless absolutely necessary for a whole day aboard the Eternal when she heard the tragic news. At least Mr. Waltfeld reported this much.

"Me too, Athrun" Kira said.

The atmosphere in the lobby was turning a little too surly for their incoming guests comfort so Kira decided to change the topic and besides, he was pretty sure Cagalli would slap the three of them if she saw them like this, wherever she was.

"How's Orb? Keeping that Yuna guy in line?" Kira broke the eerie silence faster than it came.

"Yup. And I think he's scared of me now that he knows who I really am" Athrun replied with a slight smile. "It makes being an Admiral easier."

"Well then," Lacus clapped her hands together a little too cheerfully "that's good to hear, Athrun. Any positive development with Orb is definitely good news, especially at a time like this"

The doors of the lobby suddenly squeaked open and as rehearsed, the few ZAFT soldiers surrounding the place gathered into two straight lines on either side of Lacus, Athrun, and Kira.

4 figures entered the room; one wearing a white coat, _Commander Moore_, Kira recognized, and the other three trailing her were wearing red. They had a golden wing shaped badge pinned on each of their collars. The badge identified them as a part of the _Kronos Class_, the new elite class of ZAFT. Kira was a member himself.

Lined up, the soldiers saluted the 4 of them as they made their way towards him, Athrun and Lacus.

The trio did the same once Commander Moore and his group reached them.

"Chairwoman Clyne, Commander Yamato, it's a true honor to finally meet you two in person" Moore was the first to speak.

"No, the honor is all ours" Lacus said, putting the four of them and the other soldiers at ease.

"Did you get here safe?" Kira asked.

"Totally unharmed, Commander Yamato" Moore turned to the three red coats behind her.

Kira looked at their faces curiously, or at least 2/3 of their faces. They certainly weren't what he was expecting. They even looked as young as he was.

Truly, a peculiar group; one had his uniform undone at the collar and his messy green hair followed suit, the other one, a girl with brown hair stood stiffer than Yzak Joule himself, while the last on his far left had her golden hair tied into a bun and, unusually enough, was wearing a mask that hid the top half of her face.

"Let me introduce to you the highly esteemed members of the Kronos Class," Moore placed her hand on the green haired boy's shoulder "Lieutenant Julian Crestings"

Julian, noticing his collar a bit too late, embarrassingly fumbled to button it together and faced Kira with a determined look "Sir!"

Kira acknowledged him with a smile which seemed to put the other boy's embarrassment at ease.

Commander Moore's hand then moved onto the brunette beside Julian "Lieutenant Adele Shea"

"A pleasure, Ms. Clyne, and Commander Yamato" Adele confidently said.

_She must be the most stable out of all of them_, Kira noted.

"Same here" Lacus addressed.

"And last, but certainly not the least," Moore stood proudly beside the masked blonde "Lieutenant Camila Hayden, arguably our finest"

The other two beside Camila beamed with the same pride Moore had, no sign of jealousy at all. _This_ was a good start.

Kira couldn't tell whether Camila was blushing under her mask or a part below her cheek was just naturally red.

Without uttering a single word, Camila gave short salute and Kira imitated her before turning to Athrun.

"And this here is Admiral Athrun Zala of the Orb Special Defense Force. He'll be representing their nation"

Athrun stepped forward and shook Commander Moore's hand.

"A pleasure, Admiral Zala"

From the corner of his eye, Kira saw Camila slightly wince in pain. Athrun obviously noticed this too since he turned towards the girl and asked "Is there a problem?"

Camila opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by a blaring alarm from outside.

Kira's brows furrowed "It's the Earth Alliance again." _They couldn't have chosen a better time to attack, _he thought to himself.

The lined up soldiers glanced at Lacus in anticipation for her order but the songstress was in another world, she was staring at Camila intriguingly.

"Is there something wrong, Lacus?"Kira's voice seemed to shoot her out of her deep thought.

"What? Oh it's nothing." Lacus assured. Outside, the alarm was still wailing incessantly. The enemy was closer than he thought.

Julian stepped up, breaking the suspense "If I may, Chairwoman, we can't think of a better way to prove to you our worth than by engaging in this battle ourselves"

Lacus hesitated, Kira knew how much she hated these things. He intertwined his hand with hers and said "Don't worry Lacus, it'll be fine"

Lacus then nodded apologetically and gave the soldiers her permission to fight but before any of them could move Commander Moore gave a startling cote of confidence.

"Actually, I firmly believe that my team is enough for this fight"

"Are you crazy?" Athrun let out "There's only three of them! It'll be a massacre"

"Ok then" Kira said, surprising even himself

"But Kira,"

"Don't worry, Athrun. I'm coming with them. It won't be much of a massacre with the four of us"

"Then I'm coming too"

"No. I need you here to guard Lacus, please"

Athrun looked appalled at this but he didn't really have a choice. He wasn't exactly a member of ZAFT anymore and didn't have any right to decide over the military of PLANT.

"Fine then. But if things get messy, I'm going out as well"

"Thanks, Athrun"

Kira whipped his head to give a few reminders to Julian, Adele, and Camila but they'd already gone off to their mobile suits.

"Don't worry, they're disciplined kids. They will follow whatever you say" Moore said. And with that Kira ran off to his own battle station.

* * *

_**A/N: Again thanks so much for reading and all the lovely reviews I've gotten so far. Sorry I can't reply to you guys cause yeah, I'm hurrying and all but I will once I find the time.**_

_**Of course I can't have Cagalli talk yet cuz then they'll recognize her voice and I do think it's a bit early for that.**_

_**But don't worry guys, soon. ;))**_

_**Please do review. They keep me going.**_


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